WENHEM, Mass. – The Geneva College women's basketball team couldn't keep pace with the United States Coast Guard Academy on Friday night in the opening game of the Gordon Classic, falling 96-72.  Geneva's record is now 2-2 on the season.

Geneva came out cold early, and the Coast Guard took advantage by scoring the first ten points of the game.  Junior Anna Ulmer got the women on the board with a bucket, and back-to-back baskets from junior Emily Garvin started to get the Golden Tornado offense going, but the Geneva defense couldn't slow down the Coast Guard offense as the Bears led 28-14 at the end of the first quarter.

The Golden Tornadoes stayed cold from the perimeter, missing their first ten three-point shots, while the Coast Guard hit four of its first five perimeter shots.  The Bears stretched their lead to 32-15 early in the second quarter before Geneva put together its best stretch of the first half.  Two free throws from Garvin, a layup from freshman Alexandra Cozzens, another bucket from Garvin and a layup from Ulmer formed an eight-point run that cut the Geneva deficit down to single digits, 32-23, and forced the Coast Guard to call a timeout.

However, the Bears responded well out of the break and answered Geneva's eight-point run with eight straight points, and the Coast Guard eventually took a 53-33 lead into halftime.

A three-pointer from senior Mackenzie Barricklow early in the third quarter finally broke the ice from long range for the Golden Tornadoes, and another three-pointer from Ulmer pulled Geneva within 67-51, but the women could not get any closer in the third quarter and headed into the final period down 77-59.

Garvin hit a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter to pull Geneva within 16 points again, 82-66, but the Coast Guard controlled the final few minutes and finished off the win, 96-72.

For the fourth time in four games, Garvin led the women in scoring, this time scoring 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor, while pulling down seven rebounds.  Ulmer also reached double figures, equaling her career high with 14 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds.  As a team Geneva shot 27-of-79 (34.2%) from the floor, including a 7-of-28 (25.0%) effort from deep. 

Kelly Hagerty led the Coast Guard with a game-high 24 points as four of the five starters finished with double figures.  The Bears shot 35-of-69 (50.7%) from the floor, 7-of-20 (35.0%) from the three-point line.

The Golden Tornadoes will try to rebound tomorrow when they play Gordon at 3:00 p.m. before making the long trip home.  After opening with five road games, Geneva will finally get a chance to play in front of its home crowd in its next game when the women open conference play next Saturday, November 23, with a 1:00 p.m. matchup against Waynesburg inside Metheny Fieldhouse.